Stealthgearusa

Our Story

Choosing To Never Compromise

Real-world solutions to real-world problems. This isn’t just a nice sounding slogan. This was the genesis of StealthGearUSA. This brand does not exist, and these people would not have come together for this work, without the experiences and passions of the founder, Paul Laemmlen.

In his own words: It all started the day my loaded handgun fell out of a poorly-designed IWB holster and onto the floor of a busy retail establishment. That holster (manufactured by a major US holster company) was retired that day to the reject holster pile.

After an exhaustive search for a better IWB holster, I was disappointed with the poorly-conceived and over-priced offerings on the market. Don’t get me wrong, I love leather craftsmanship, but I was not looking for a beautifully crafted piece of leatherwork to be tucked in my waistband and soaked with sweat every day.

Non-bendable, all-Kydex® holsters were out of the question because to be comfortable, I felt that a holster needed to be flexible, not create pressure points. I was also disappointed with the leather/Kydex® hybrids and their claims of being the “most comfortable holster available". After field-testing several, I knew there had to be something much more comfortable than a Kydex® shell riveted to a piece of leather. There are videos all over YouTube that tell you how to make the same thing in an hour for $20 or $30.

I finally decided that I needed to build myself a BETTER holster. I grew up on a farm, working with equipment and tools, where I was always tinkering, making repairs and finding ways to get work done in a better way. I was confident that, with a little trial and error, I could find the right materials to design and build a holster that improved greatly upon current offerings available. I needed a safe, rock-solid holster that would always perform flawlessly. It would need to be built without moisture-trapping leather, with completely synthetic materials, vented, and padded for comfort. It would need to be lighter, tougher and more comfortable than other holsters on the market. After a nationwide search for the most specialized materials available, my unique IWB holster began to take shape.

“My original intent was to just build a holster for myself…”

My original intent was to just build a holster for myself, but after seeing the first VentCore® versions, many friends and family members asked me to make one for them, and I quickly realized that this holster design could be the answer to what many other firearm owners were looking for. With numerous design and material improvements along the way, and after extensive field-testing, the StealthGearUSA VentCore® IWB Holster was born and has now evolved into what I believe is the best and most innovative IWB holster on the market today. That one product – which I did not actually create to be a product sold to anyone – was the beginning of StealthGearUSA. It started in my basement and before the end of our first year we shipped holsters to all 50 states and 9 countries. StealthGearUSA now ships hundreds of orders daily to customers worldwide.

Our award-winning, made in USA, VentCore® holsters have received accolades from leaders in the firearms industry such as Guns & Ammo and American Rifleman magazines, Hickok45, Shooting for Women Alliance, The Truth About Guns, Guns.com and many more.

I still read almost every single review and comment from the field. This connection to our customers and authentic positive impact on people’s lives is what’s most important to me, and to StealthGearUSA."